November 16, 2007

Federal Asian Carp Management Plan Approved


Following a four year effort led by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Aquatic Nuisance Species Task Force (a federal, state and non-governmental advisory group co-chaired by the departments of Commerce and Interior) accepted and approved on November 7th a national management plan to prevent, control and manage black, bighead, silver, and grass carps. The Task Force identified the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service as the lead agency to implement a plan that consists of 48 strategies and 131 recommendations. Implementation costs were estimated to be $286 million over a 20 year period. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will be creating an Implementation Committee to be composed of federal, state, and public members. The plan can be read or downloaded from http://www.anstaskforce.gov/Documents/Carps_Management_Plan.pdf